April 2011

After a four year relationship, a man and his ex-girlfriend split up nine months ago. The two remained friends after the breakup and the man was taking care of the cat and dog purchased during the relationship. Things were going fine until earlier this month when the female asked the male’s opinion on something and she did not like the response. They got into an argument and the female began phoning and texting saying she now wanted the Labrador retriever On April 13 the man returned to his home on 17th Ave SW and “was surprised when his Labrador dog did not great him when he entered.” The cat and cat carrier were also missing. The man suspects his ex-girlfriend in the animal burglary.

West Seattle & Westwood Curves Food Drives
During April two Curves locations are having food drives to support West Seattle Food Bank and White Center Food Bank. During April we will waive our joining fee for a bag of groceries. Help feed our neighbors and friends by dropping off non-perishable food donations.
3280 California Ave. S.W., M-F 6:15 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 8-1:30 p.m., 206-932-5650.
11001 16th Ave. S.W., Suite 100, M-F 6:45 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.-noon, 206-246-7900.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206-937-7169
Sunday, May 1 thru Saturday, May 7: Women’s Wear 50% OFF. Cookbook and Teacup Event continues until Sunday, May 15. Each Sunday in May: Men’s Wear 50% OFF. Sunday, May 1 & forward: Yellow tags 50% OFF. The Shop is open on Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All other days the Shop is open for our valued customers & donors purchasing and/or contributing goods; offering estates or financial support from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m

Everyone Desires Health Care
Southwest Branch Library
9010 35th Ave. S.W.

If that name rings a bell, call yourself a young old timer in these parts pardner.

Andy is alive and pretty well for a man 88.

     Andy was born in a place with the unlikely name of Track's End Ranch,near Abilene, Kansas. When he was 16 he planned on being President of the United States. The first step? Becoming a member of his high school state champion debate team. 

      Andy and his wife Dorothy have three children and five grand kids. For many years they lived on Lake Burien. He and Dorothy are now taking life easy in retirement, living near Vancouver, Wash.

    Dorothy really fell for the former Naval officer at a USO dance during WW2 when she tripped while descending some stairs and crashed landed in Andy's arms at the bottom. She really fell for him.They have been marred for 65 years.

    He cut a wide swath in our local history after his Navy service as executive and commanding officer of a ship in the Pacific Theater.

     I met Andy in 1957 when he was the youngest state senator in the United States. He came into the office of the White Center News saying he had plans on running for U.S. Congress. His efforts were not enough. 

Track:

The Ballard track team competed at the Bellevue Invite over the weekend. There were 34 schools participating. Top 10 finishers for Ballard included:

Brad Baker 9th in the 400 M
Alex Bowns 5th in the 3200 M
Alex Weatbrook 2nd in the Discus
Matt Kelly 6th in the Javelin
Emma Suchland 2nd in the 100 M and 4th in the 200 M
Catherine Banobi 8th in the 400 M
Emma Onstad-Hawes 10th in the 400
Girls Relay Team 4th in the 4 x 100 M
Girls Relay Team 2nd in the 4 x 200 M

Visit this link for the full results.

The next meet will be Thursday, APril 28th against Mercer Island and Sammamish at Sammamish High School.

Baseball:

The Ballard Baseball team played West Seattle in a non-league game on Friday afternoon.
West Seattle was the first to put a run on the board in the first inning and scored another run in the first half of the third inning. Ballard was quick to even the score. The remainder of the game was scoreless, despite the many hits. An extra inning had to be played din which the Beavers scored the winning run.
Ballard won 3 to 2.

From the SPD blotter:

On April 21, at approximately 9:40 p.m, about a group of juveniles were hanging out in Golden Gardens Park when the group was approached by three adult males who began walking around the group acting “suspiciously.”

Several of the teens approached the suspects and asked them what they wanted. The three suspects began an unprovoked attack on the group and he began punching the victims. Both male and female victims were assaulted by the suspects.

One suspect grabbed a purse lying on the ground and the other two suspects continued to assault the group, so the other suspect could get away with the purse. The three suspects then got into a Dodge Caravan and attempted to drive away. A North Precinct officer arrived at the park and prevented the van from leaving the parking lot. The three suspects were arrested after being positively identified.

Six juvenile victims were identified. None of the victims had serious injuries, and no victim required any medical treatment. The stolen purse was recovered and returned to the owner. The three suspects, all 18 years old, were later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.

If you didn't get to ask your question for Mayor McGinn during the Ballard Town Hall meeting earlier this month, the Seattle Channel is giving you a second chance. Host C.R. Douglas will have Mayor McGinn as his guest and people are encouraged to call in or email their questions for the mayor.

Why is the U.S. Department of Justice investigating the Seattle Police Department over allegations of “excessive force and discriminatory policing?” Will Seattle be voting on initial funding of light rail from West Seattle to Ballard? What’s the latest on the Mayor’s Nightlife Initiative?

Whatever your question is, on Wednesday, April 27, 7:00 p.m., call 206-684-8821 and talk to Mayor McGinn and Seattle Channel host C.R. Douglas. You can also send your question to askthemayor@seattle.gov, post them on facebook or tweet them to the Seattle Channel.

Thirteen Seattle Public Schools will be honored on April 27 for winning the Washington Achievement Award for overall excellence and special recognition in language arts, math, science, graduation rate, improvement and closing achievement gaps.

Schools are selected based on their statewide assessment data for the three previous years. This data is analyzed using the Achievement Index and methodology.

Ceremonies will start at 9 a.m., at Lincoln High School in Tacoma.

The schools from Seattle Public Schools and the categories being recognized are:

• AS#1 – Improvement
• Catharine Blaine – Overall Excellence
• Bryant – Overall Excellence
• Concord* – Overall Excellence
• Coe – Overall Excellence
• Hay* – Overall Excellence
• Home School Resource Center – Extended Graduation Rate
• Loyal Heights* – Overall Excellence, Math
• McGilvra* – Overall Excellence
• Mercer* – Overall Excellence
• Montlake – Overall Excellence

King County Executive Dow Constantine is calling for stable monthly sewer rates for 2012 under a proposal sent to the Metropolitan King County Council last week.
 
“In these difficult economic times, it makes sense to keep the rate flat. This proposal will allow us to maintain critical infrastructure, support economic growth and promote environmental health without undue burden to ratepayers,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine in a press release.
 
Customers served by King County’s clean-water utility will continue to pay the current rate of $36.10 per residential customer equivalent (RCE). The rate covers the cost to collect wastewater from 34 local sewer utilities and treat it at one of King County’s regional treatment plants in Seattle or Renton, and beginning this summer at the Brightwater plant north of Woodinville.  
 

The printable schedules for the West Seattle Little League are now available online.

The season is set to begin May 16 for the Senior and Big League (the regular season started April 4) But prior to that will be Picture Day on May 7 and the Little League Mariners Day on May 8.

You can see the full (tentative) calendar of events for the 2011 season here.

The annual Jamboree did not happen this year due to poor field conditions but at last report the upgrades to the Bar-S Field were on track to be completed soon. League President Mark Terao said, "Hopefully we will at least be operational in a couple of weeks.
We will see."

You can follow the progress here.

To some, the fatal motorcycle crash two weeks ago on 35th Avenue s.w. near Juneau Street was just a tragic statistic. But for West Seattle's Seffernick family and close friends, the evening of April 13th was a horrifying nightmare as the accident took the life of their Andrew, whose 25th birthday would be six days later.

"He was our baby," said Andrew's mother, Nancy, who wanted to share memories of her son with the West Seattle Herald's readers. Andrew lived with his mother, and father, Bob, and his two year-old son, A.J., short for Andrew, Jr., in their home near South Seattle Community College where he had taken welding and art courses. He is survived by three older sisters, Aubrey, Ashley, and Colleen.

A.J.'s mother, Karra, lives close by. She attends South Seattle Community College and works. She and Andrew's family want to work out how best to raise A.J.

"We'll get it figured out," said Nancy, a mail carrier in Renton. Bob is in construction. "A.J.'s got a lot of loving family," she said.

Nancy held a small piece of paper with some notes.